Process of treating tarry matter, heavy hydrocarbon residues, and the like



June 18, 1929. s, KNOWLES 1,717,884

PROCESS OF EATING TARRY MATTER, HEAVY HYDROCA N RESIDUES AND THE LIKE Filed June 12. 1925 mare June 18,1929.

1 UNITED STATES PATTEN' I; 1=] ;E

ALEXANDER srarrmnf KNOWLES, or sr. LOUIS,- iurssoum, assrenoa 'ro ran a PE- 'rnomum PROCESS nors.

rnocnss or" resume ream? commy, or" CHICAGO, rumors, A conroaa'rrorr or ILLI- mrrnn, HEAVY nrmzocaanon RESIDUES, in run rum 1 Y Y I Application flied June 12, 1925. Serial No. 86,718.

Coal tar is produced as a by-productin the manufacture of gas 'or coke; and a similar by-product or residue is produced in the distillation and cracking of petroleum, and

like matter sometimes occurs as 'a natural product. ,Such materials may be viscous or semi-solid and they do not yield readily to economical and. satisfactory cracking or distilling operation. For instance, coal tar, as

1 produced in the manufacture of coke or gas,

contains water, and when the water content ranges above two percent as it frequently does, the attempt to eliminate the water by distillation of a considerable body of tar.

I is slow and diflicult and is liable to produce disastrous. fires and explosions, due to the steam being trapped and superheated in the viscous mass.

The principal objects of the present invention are: to produce a safe and economiing the tar-like matter into said chamber at a'rate slow enough to prevent the accumulation of a body of liquid therein; and it also consists in the operations hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification and wherein like reference symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur, a

Fig. ,1.is a cross-section of an oven or retort apparatus -suitable for use inmy process; and 1 Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view thereof on the line 2' 2 of Fig.1.

The oven or retort shown in the accompanying drawing. comprises an enclosed chamber which has blank or imperforate walls at its sides 1 and rear end 2: and'an arched roof or top 3 "which has an outlet 4 for vapors, which outlet communicates with suitable receivers and preferably contains a suitable suction device (not. shown). The fioor'5 ofthe oven 'or retort is preferably temperature, which will vary the material .and the flat. This floor has no ,vertical openings therethrough, but it has a series of heating flues 6 extending from front to rear thereof adapted to receive the products of combus- $1011 from a-suitable furnace and to deliver them to a suitable stack.. The floor also preferably has a series of cooling flues 7 arranged longitudinally below the heating flues The oven hasan opening at thefront and is provided with a suitable closure therefor. As illustrated the oven or retort floor extends forwardl beyond the chamber and onit is built a dlhor 8 of brick secured removably in a permanent frame. Said door or closure has an opening through which extends a. feed pipe 9 that is arranged to be rotated and moved back and forth by an attendant. Said pipe terminates in a suitable nozzle, whereby the operator can spray the material to be treated 'over the entire surface of the loose bed after mentioned. The the oven as heated by of material hereindrawing illustrates gas or oil fuel fed by a pipe 10 from a suitable source of fuel supply to a suitable burner, or burners 1 1, in the ues 6.

Prior to closing the door,the floor of the oven is covered ,with a loose or porous bed 12 of nonvolatile matter such as charcoal,

coke oranthracite coal. .So, long as the bed remains loose or porous and. thick enough to protect the floor from the deposition thereon of carbon, the size of the lumps and the. thickness of the bed may be varied consider-- ably, as will be apparent from what follows v hereinafter.

After the floor has been covered with the bed of loose nonvolatile material and the door closed .to exclude the air, the oven floor is heated until the bed reaches a suitable" purpose of the operaaccording to cient. When the bed of loose material has reached a suitable temperature, the tar-like matter is injected into the oven or retort through thespray pipe or other suitable means, which-delivers it in' a finely divided state, Preferably the tar-like matter is first hea'ted sufficiently to make it fluid and it is";

then injected into the oven in a more or less continuous, stream whose rate of flow does not materially exceed the capacity, of the furnaee for continuously volatilizing or cracking the tar-like matter fed into the oven. During this operation, the suction device in the condensing system with which the outlet 5 pipe communicates, is in operation to keep the ressure inside of the oven low and to facilltate the delivery of the distillation products to the condensing system. i In consequence of the tar-like matter being fed into the oven or retort at a rate slow enough to prevent any substantial accumulationof such matter in liquid form, the changes and reactions that such material undergoes are efiected almost instantaneously and the resulting products are immediately removed from the retort. Whatever carbon is depositedis deposited on the lumps or fragments, which constitute the loose bed and which thereby savethe floor of the oven or retort from the deposition of carbon thereon. When the deposition of carbon or other matter has proceeded far enough to substantially affect thelooseness or porosity of the bed, the operation is discontinued, the front door of the oven or retort is opened or removed and the old bed, or a part thereof, is removed and replaced with a fresh bed. 7

In consequence of the small mass of matter undergoing treatment at any particular time, the danger of explosions due to the trapping of steam or vapor in a viscous mass is entirely eliminated, and the operation of de hydrating is rendered safe, easy and econom- 1ca Most of the physical and chemical changes are effected when the matter first touches the heated bed on thefioor of the oven, oreven 1 before. Such actions are endothermic and tend to lower the temperatureof the top of the-bed. If the vrate of feed is too rapid to V keep the top of the bed sufiiciently heated,

' the tar-like matter tends to flow downwardly -in liquid form along thesides of the lumps,

- but as the heat in the bed increases progressively downwardly all or part of such liquid matter undergoes volati-lization or reaction beforejt reaches the floor of. the oven or retort. The factthat the heat ofthe bed increases downwardly makes it easy for the ,ucts. Forinstance, the matter to be treated ma contain'ingredients that volatilize .or un ergo reaction at relatively low temperature and other ingredients that volatilize or undergo reaction at a higher temperature.

With such matter, the ingredients that re-.

flowing-toward a hotter'zone, and, if the operator to control the reactions and prod-' bed is deepenough, and if the heating of theretort is continuous and eificient,they undergo volatilization or reaction before reaching For the treatment of materials containing a large percentage of heavy pitchy residual matter, it is preferable to use a bed of relatively large lumps so as to provide adequate surface of contact for the liquid and for the deposition of carbon and to afford adequate '75 passageway for the escape of vapors through the bed. F or residues of this character, a higher degree of temperature would be used for economic operation than would be necessary for distillation of lighter material containing a small percentage of pitchy matter.

In the distillation of material containing little or no pitchy residue, such as the fractions already obtainedby previous distillation, a bed made of smallerlumps may be used. If a higher temperature is maintained it-will result in a more rapid recovery of the products because of the less heat required to distill the lightermaterial. In every case, however, the rate of input of'rnaterial to be distilled must be gauged by,--6'r depends on; the amount-of heat entering the bed. That is, the heat input and rate of injection of material must be maintained in a balanced operation to secure continuous and satisfactor results. f y

retort designed to treat only the lighter material containing little or nopitchy matter,'preferably should: be metal lined with a metal door, to more ompletely exclude: the air and to allow a' pre sure to develop in the retort. ,Such a retort would not need the suction device mentioned above.

It is understood that the retort may be of any suitable size and shape to accommodate the bed of material, and it may be'provided' with recuperators or regenerators for increasing the capacity of the plant and for economy in the use of fuel.

The material for the bed may be varied 11o according to the purpose and the kind of material that is available in different locations. Such materials as coke, charcoal and anthracite are especiallyvaluable, however, because they not only retain their original fuel valuethroughout the operation, but have such fuel value increased by the deposit thereon of carbon and other combustible residuum.

7 The roducts recovered are cokeor carbon, 2 which- 1s deposited in the bed, oils that pass out and may be separated by condensation, and gas,the amount'of which depends on the temperature maintained and the character of the material distilled. 4

While itis usually preferable to inject the matter to be treated into thechamber'in the form of liquid, it is sometimes preferable to inject it in solid form, particularly such substances as pitch and other solid residues 130 which may be fed onto the bed in lumps of any convenient size. Obviously also the process admits of considerable variation without departing from my invention.

What I claim is: 1. The process of treating heavy hydrocarbon matter in liquid form which comprises.

- depositing the same within a closed chamber onto a bed of loose material which is mostly carbon while heating said chamber externally from below so as to maintain at least a portion of the bed below the top thereof at a temperature suflicient to cause chemical.

decomposition of said matter,

allowing said matter to How downwardly at least a sub stantial' distance into the zone of decomposi-' tion temperature, removing the gases from said zone upwardly through the portion of the bed thereabove, and residueas coke.

3. The process of treating heavy hydrocarbon matter in liquid form which com prises depositing the same in. divided form onto a thin bed of loose material which is mostly carbon within a closed chamber while heating said chamber externally from below so as to maintain at least a portion of said bed at a temperature sufiicient to cause chemicaldecomposition of the hydrocarbon matter and deposition of carbon on said loose removing the solid 1 material, allowing the hydrocarbon matter to pass down a substantial distance into said portion of the bed, and removing the gases.

and vaporsupwardly through the portion of the bedthereabove. I

4. The process of treating heavy hydrocarbon matter inliquid form which comprises depositing the same in divided form 'onto a thin bed of loose material which is mostly carbon within a closed chamber while heating said chamber externally from below so as to maintain at least a portion of said bed at'a temperature sufiicient to cause chemical decomposition of the hydrocarbon matter and deposition of carbon on said loose material, allowing the hydrocarbon matter to pass down a substantial distance onto said portion of the bed, removing the gases and vapors upwardly through the portionof the bed thereabove and periodically stopping the deposition of said matter and removing said loose material with carbon deposited. thereon when its looseness becomes substantially reduced by the deposition of the carbon there- 5. The. carbon matter in liquid form, which comprises depositing said matter throughout a vertical column in a closed chamber at such rate as to prevent accumulation of a substantial body of liquid in said chamber, and exposing the liquid to heat supplied from below sufficient to volatilize a portion thereof and to coke the residue of the liquid, the volatilized matter passing upward from. the material in the process of coking, through liquid deposited thereabove, the treatment of upper portions of the material being carried on partly by sensible heat carried by the vola tiles released from lower portions.

vSigned at St. Louis, of June, 1925.

ALEXANDER STEPHEN KNOW'LESQ process of treating heavy hydro- Missouri, this 10th day 

